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Thursday, March 17, 2016

In modern times the world has greatly
shrunk as a result of scientific and technological development. As a
consequence events in one part of the world have an immediate impact on the
rest of the world. Therefore the states maintain regular relations with other
states and the study of international relations has assumed great importance. Though
some sort of international relations have been in vogue since earliest times
and some of the states like Egypt, China, Greece and India have evolved code
for the conduct of these relations, these rules were essentially based on
morality and were not scrupulously observed by the states. Further these
relations generally covered states of the same region and therefore can more
appropriately be described as regional relations. It was only in the 17the century
that the states established relations with other states beyond the region. This
in a way marked the beginning of the international relations. The improvements
in means of transport and communication and the industrial revolution further
brought the states closer and greatly contributed to the development of
international relations. It may be noticed that at that time the international
relations, were concerned only with the study of diplomatic history, law and philosophy.
The study was mainly based on facts find on facts finding and no deductions of
any universal principles were made which could be helpful in understanding of
the present or future relations among states. As a result, no well-conceived
theory could be evolved which could help in understanding the significance of
the current events.

Meaning of International Relations:

The term’ International’ was used
for the first time by Jeremy Bentham in the later part of the 18th
century with regard to the laws of nations. Consequently, the term international
relations was used to define the official relations between the sovereign states.
However some scholars even included the economic, social and cultural relations
amongst the states also within the purview of the subject. Thus there are broadly
two views regarding the meaning of international relations. Those who take
narrow view assert that international relation include only “the official
relations conducted by the authorized leaders of the state”. To them the
relations between nations, other than the official relations such as trade,
financial intercourse, missionary activities, travel of students, cultural
relations etc. don’t fall in the domain of international relations. Other view
of is “the actual relations that take place across national boundaries or as
the body of knowledge which we have of those relations at any given time.

Friday, March 11, 2016

USA - WATERGATE SCANDAL (1972-1974)

Watergate is the name of a
building complex in Washington DC which became involved in a scandal with the
Nixon administration when in June 1972 five persons were arrested from the
premises of Democratic Party’s headquarters on charges of burglary. It was alleged
that these persons had not only illegally entered the premises but also
conspired to tape the phone and to steal the documents of Democratic National
Committee in order to take advantage in 1972 US elections. The prosecution
started investigations but President Nixon denied all charges of involvement in
the affair. However the situation took a dramatic turn on January 11, 1973 when
of the accused Mr. Howard Hant admitted that he was guilty of the charges
labelled against him. Consequently the US Senate on February 7, 1973 set up a
selection committee under the chairmanship of Sen. S.J. Ervin to investigate
into the Watergate scandal. As the case progressed President Nixon promised to
cooperate with the committee. The crises depended further on April 30, 1973
when Nixon’s top aides viz. H.R. Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman, John.W.Dean and
Attorney General Richard Kleindienst resigned from their posts. On June 25
Nixon’s former Counsel told the Senate hearings that Nixon, his staff and
campaign aides and the Justice Department had conspired to cover up the
Watergate facts. With each passing day the sphere of the investigations
continued to widen further with startling disclosures. In July 1973 the
selection committee recorded evidences of important White House officials. In
the meantime President Nixon continued to harp on his innocence. A White House
aide revealed that most of Nixon’s office conversations and phone cells had
been recorded. The court and the Congress sought the tapes for criminal
proceedings against former White House aides but President Nixon refused to
release the tapes. As a result in August 1973 Chief Judge ordered Nixon to hand
over the tapes for investigations. President Nixon refused to comply with these
instructions. In October 1973 Nixon removed Watergate special Prosecutor Archibald
Cox when he threatened to secure a judicial ruling that Nixon was violating
court order by refusing to hand over tapes to the judge. As the results of the
investigations gradually unfolded, Nixon’s involvement in the Watergate scandal
became clearer. Survey of the public opinion showed that majority of the
Americans believed that Nixon was guilty and were in favour of his impeachment.
In July 1974 the House Judiciary Committee charged Nixon with following three
articles of impeachment.

1Participation in a criminal conspiracy to
obstruct justice.

2Abusing the power.

3Unconstitutional defiance of the committee.

The House of Representatives
accepted committee’s report by a 42-3 vote. However on Aug 9, 1974 President
Nixon resigned in order to avoid impeachment. Thus he became the first
president in the history of US to have resigned from his office.